Rubber base for telephones and the like



Dec. 6, 1932. E. OAKLEY RUBBER BASE FOR TELEPHONES AND THE LIKE Filed Jan. 30. 1951 l' *25 dial of the telephone. Heretofore, covers Patented Dec. 6, 1932 EMILY OAKLEY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALEOBNIA.

RUBBER BASE FOBTELEPHONES AND THE LIKE Application led January 30, 1931. Serial No. 512,273.

My invention relates to bases for telephones and similar devices and has particular reference to a base formed of rubber or similar composition to be employed in connection with hand telephones of the type in common use and known in the art as desk telephones.

In connection with objects formed of metal to be placed upon the smooth surfaces of such tops of desks, considerable difficulty has been encountered in the past due to these metal objects injuring the finish of the surace upon which they are placed. This is particularly true in connection with desk telephones in which the metal bases of the telephones are placed upon the surfaces of desks, tables and similar articles of furniture with the result that unless the bases are covered with some non-metallic material injury to the finish of the desks occurs. Also,

telephones of the dial selecting type, when used on desks, are readily moved under the influence of the movements of dialing or selecting the station `to be called, rendering it awkward to properly operate the selecting metal with the surface upon which it may be placed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pliable rubber base for a telephone which may be so formed as tov be readily attachable to the metal base o the telephone.

Another object of the invention is to provide a pliable rubber base for a telephone in which the base may be attached to the telephone. by inserting the same between the metalbase and the superstructure of the telephone, thus securing the edges of such rubber belilse within the metal assembly of the telep one.

Otherl objects of my invention will appear from a study of the following specification, read in` 'connection with the accompanying drawing-in which Figure 1 is a front portion of a desk partly in section, showing my rubber base in place thereon.

Figure 2 is a detail sectional view of the vrubber base per se illustrating in detail the construction thereof, the section being taken 7,5 along line II-II of Figure 3.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the rubber base per se illustrated in Fig. 1. i

Figure 4 is a detail plan view showing the underneath side of the rubber base illustrated 8 in Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a sectional view similar to that shown in Fig. 1, and illustratin a modified form of my telephone base assem ly upon the metal base of a telephone.

Figure 6 is a detail sectional view illustrating a still further modified form ofmy rubber base as applied to the metal base of at/elFephone. l

igure 7 is a detail plan view of the under- 9 neath surface of the metal telephone base to which the form of rubber base illustrate in Fi re 5 may be attached.

eferring to the drawing, I have illus-y trated in Figure 1, a telephone stand comprising a tubular upright 1 to which the transmitter and receiver of the telephone (not elevational view of a for the bases of such telephones were formed o cloth or felt, or similar material, which, to some extent, avoided injury to the surface of the desks and the like, but did not eliminate the movement of the telephone during manipulation of the dial.

It is, therefore, an object of mylinvention to provide a basefor metal articles, such as 3s telephones, which will have both the character of preventing injury to surfaces upon which such objects may be placed, and also to have the property of increasing the frictional contact between the object and the surface upon which it is placed.

Another object of the invention is to pro-l vide a base for objects, such as telephones, in which the base is formed of suitable surace gripping material, such as pliable rub- Another object of the invention is to provide bases for telephones and the like in type telephone illustrated '70.

which a relatively thin sheet of vpliable rubber may be attached to the metal base of the telephone to insure against contact of the shown) may be attached. The tubular upright 1 is rigidly secured in any suitable manner to an inverted cup-like support 2 normally fis ' concentric circular projections.

employed for housing the internal housing of the telephone and constituting the support for a dialing structure such as is in common use in desk telephones.

A cover or base 3 formed of metal is usually provided for attachment to the underneath side' of the support 2 as by means of screws 4 which extend through depressions 5, one or more of which are formed in the metal base to coincide with the projecting legs or feet 6 of the attaching bracket 7 secured in a suitable manncr to the support 2 and upright 1. The metal base 3 is usually formed with an upstanding flange 8 which coincides with the downwardly depending wall 9 or flange 9 of the support 2 so as to make a relatively tight joint therewith.

The construction hereinbefore described is substantially that of the construction of the metal parts of the ordinary telephone, the flange 8 being provided with either an in-v wardly and upwardly projecting shoulder to fit within the depending flange 9 of the support 2, or in some instances a separate ring of metal is inserted within the flange 8 to eX- tend upwardly into engagement with the inner wall of the flange 9.

The construction -as herein described and as now used in connection with telephones, is such that a felt or cloth covering placedupon the underneath side of the plate 3 and drawn inwardly to be clamped between the flange 8 and the depending flange 9 insures the covering of the metal parts of the telephone which will contact with the desk .surface or other surface upon which the telephone may be placed. However, the felt surface or cloth surface is unable to grip the disk surface sufficiently to prevent ready displacement of the telephone due to any manipulation of the telephone parts for example the manipulation ofthe dial in selecting the telephone station desired.

By referring to Fig. 1, it will be observed that I have provided a cover or exterior base 11 preferably formed of resilient material having a high frictional coefficient. For example, this material may be live rubber which I prefer to form of substantially pure rubber, vulcanized only to -such degree as will provide a soft pliable elastic` rubber composition.

The rubber base 11 is preferably formed with a plurality of corrugations 12 upon its underneath side, these corrugations being illustrated in Fig. 4 as comprising aI series of Although it is to be understood that any other configuration may be given to the corrugations or outstanding flanges 12 in order toincrease the frictional gri which the base will attain upon any su ace upon which it is placed.

Referring particularly to Fig. 3, it will be observed that the rubber base 11 -is for-med with a substantially flat circular surface 13,

bordered by an upstanding flange 14, vthe diameter of the base 11 being preferably somewhat smaller than the diameter of the metal base 3 upon which it is to be placed so that when in place the natural resilience of the rubber material will tend to fit the rubber base snugly upon the metal surface.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2, it will' be observed that the upstanding flange 14 on the base 11 is provided with an inwardly projecting lip 15, and terminates in a downwardly depending flange 16 formed integrally with an upstanding flange 17, the flanges 16 and 17 constituting in effect an annular ring of the base material which will engage between itself and the flange 14 the upstanding flange 8 of the metal base when in place thereon. The flange 14 and the inwardly projecting portion 15 are'preferably connected to the circular base surface 13 by` means of curved connecting portions 18 and 19, to insure substantially constant thickness of material throughout the base construction and to avoid sharp corners which might constitute points of weakness in which splitting of the material might occur.

The upstanding lip 17 will extend upwardly into engagement with the inner wall of the depending flange 9 of the support 2 when the base is in place upon the telephone structure so that the lip 17 will constitute a guide for the flange 9 and will insure suflicient material upon the interior of the support 2 to prevent withdrawal or displacement of the rubber base when the base is in use.

By referring again to Fig. 3, it will be observed that the circular flat portion of the base is formed with a plurality of depressionsv 20 formed upon the inner surface thereof, the number andlocation of such depressions coi'- responding to the various types of supports 7 which may be employed upon various types of telephone stands to which my base is adapted. That is, in certain types of telephones now in use, the support 7 is constituted by a bracket having threefeet depending therefrom spaced equidistant above a center 21, these depressions being indicated specifically by the reference character 20a.

Another type of telephone stand is provided withia three footed bracket in which all of the feet are in alignment with each other, the depressions corres onding this type of telephone being speci cally indicated by the reference character 206.

lll.

Av still further type of telephone employs with the particular type of telephone With which the base is to be used, the necessary openings through the rubber base for manipulation of attaching screws 4 may be readily formed.

It will be observed that with the construct-ion hereinbefore described in place upon the metal base 3 of the telephone which is then attached to the support 2, a non-metallic cover is placed over the telephone base to insure against marring ot' the surface upon which the telephone may be placed, While at the same time the gripping surfaces of the live rubber or similar material of which my base is constructed Will insure suflicient gripping of the telephone tol prevent this movement during dialing or accidental touching of the telephone.

It Will also be observed that due to the fact that my rubber or similar material base is constructed of smaller diameter than the metal base of the telephone, a fiat surface is always presented upon the underneath side of my base, even though the metal base of the telephone may be depressed at certain points, as is indicated at 5.

c If desired, however, my base may be formed as is indicated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7 with an upstanding tip of rubber 22 having the cross sectional configuration corresponding to the configuration of the depression 5 of the metal base 3 so that even at such points as the metal base may be depressed a iat surface contact is obtained between the rubber base l1 and the metal base 3.

While I have illustrated and described the telephone base as being formed as a separate part which may be readily attached to the telephone and detached therefrom, my device may be constructed integrally with the metal base of the telephone as by vulcanizing the rubber or similar material of Which the base is formed directly to the metal base of the telephone. Such modification of my device is illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 in which 'the p metal base 3a, constitutingthe metal base of the telephone, may be formed with a plurality of corrugations 23 preferably formed as concentric circular flanges formed upon the underneath side of the base 3a to present a corrugated or roughened surface thereon to which live rubber may be attached to form the base 11 of the telephone.

It will be apparent that when vulcanizing the rubber or similar material in place, an integral structure is formed which may be placed upon the support 2 and attached thereto.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to any of the details V shown or described herein, except as dened in the appended claims.

I claim: l. An anti-slipping cover for the/base of telephones including a rubber pad integral throughout and formed to extend over the bottom of the telephone base when in use,

said pad having an upstandiug wall provided with an inturned annular lip at the upper edge and aretaining annular ring of rubber integral with the base, said ring of rubber extending on the opposite sides of said lip and parallel with said flange but spaced in- Wardly from the flange.

2. An anti-slipping cover for the base of telephones including a rubber pad integral throughout and formed to extend over the bottom of the telephone base when in use,

said pad having an upstanding wall provided with an inturned annular lip at the upper edge and a retaining annular ring of rubber integral with the base, said ring of rubber extending parallel with said flange but spaced Iinwardly from the iange.

3. An anti-slipping cover for the base of telephones including a rubber pad integral throughout and formed to extend over the bottom of the said pad having an upstanding Wall provided With an inturned annular lip at the upper edge, and an upstanding guide flange formed on 'the inner edge of said lip and extending parallel with said rst named ange but spaced inwardlytherefrom to guide the telephone support into position on said base.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 21st day of January, 1931.

' EMILY OAKLEY.

telephone base when in use, 

